Matt's The Social Network Review

I’ll admit to this right off the bat, I was deeply skeptical
going in to this particular film. Mostly
due to the popularity of Facebook, there was, perhaps, more internet chatter
about this film than any other of the 10 Oscar contenders. A scary amount of critical acclaim surrounded
The Social Network, but that doesn’t always lead to good things for me as a
viewer – I should explain that the critics and the Academy and I don’t always
see eye to eye, look at No Country for Old Men (on second thought, avoid No
Country for Old Men Like the Plague).
What worried me was the subject matter.
I’m not the biggest Facebook enthusiast you’ve ever met, and how could a
movie like this maintain its relevance, centered on such a trendy topic? Having the critics hail this film as the best
movie of the year, and an instant masterpiece seemed a bit pretentious. I wasn’t wrong. The Social Network was not the best movie of
the year, nor is it a masterpiece; however, I can’t deny it was a really good
movie.

Observations

-
Mark Zuckerberg is a douche bag. There’s just no getting around that
fact. The good news is, it doesn’t
matter. This isn’t really a character-driven
drama. We’re not really meant to
identify with the bastard, and I was fine with that. It’s more the cleverness of the writing, the
performances, and the excitement of watching the popularity of this idea grow
to unbelievable heights that kept me engaged.

-
The pacing of this film is blisteringly fast,
and the characters talk at a rate of speed I’ve not seen since The West
Wing. It took me a couple minutes for my
brain to catch up to the speed of the dialogue in the opening scene. It’s sort-of like listening to Shakespeare’s
Iambic Pentameter, for the first five minutes, it’s gibberish, then your brain
adjusts and you start to “get it”.

-
This is a singular film. Classing this in a genre is difficult. It’s not an action movie, comedy, sci-fi,
fantasy, or period drama. If I had to
compare this to anything, it would be Wall Street. Wall Street was more character-driven than
this, but it was just as reliant on fast-paced editing and business related
plot twists. Like Wall Street, the
Social Network is about greed, and the devastating effect it can have on
people.

-
David Fincher is a really good director. We knew that 16 years ago when he made Se7en,
and that hasn’t changed. When you watch
this film, Fincher’s paw prints are all over it, no question it’s David Fincher
film. I wouldn’t have it any other
way. That being said, Se7en and Fight
Club were better movies.

Performances

-
Jesse Eisenberg is to be given props for
tackling such a horrendously unlikable character with such finesse and nuance. It can’t have been easy, and while the
character remains completely unlikable, it was still a hell of a performance.

-
Andrew Garfield on the other hand should also be
given props, because this movie doesn’t work without him effectively giving the
film an emotional center, and the audience a character they can actually
sympathize with. It was an earnest and
heart wrenching performance.

Music, Cinematography, and Special Effects

-
Not the biggest fan of Nine Inch Nails, but I
thought Trent Reznor did a hell of a job on the score. Nothing ground-breaking, but the score for
this film was always going to be important, because the energy of the film was
important.

-
The cinematography was virtually a non-issue
with this film, as most of it takes place indoors. However, I loved the atmosphere of this film,
the kind-of down and dirty nature of it – most of it takes place in really nice
(Harvard) college dorms. Dark and moody,
much like it’s protagonist. In a word…
awesome.

-
No special effects on this one folks, this is
performance, storytelling and editing down to its raw and glorious
essence. Don’t let that keep you from
seeing the film, but definitely take note of the idea that a movie doesn’t need
a ton of CGI to be flashy.

The Bottom Line

I don’t see The Social Network as groundbreaking or
masterpiece film-making, but it was a good film. Certainly a product of its time, and only
time will tell how well this film will age.
The interesting thing is, how vintage this film looks when/if Facebook’s
popularity wanes. 20 years down the
line, Facebook could be a distant memory, and this film could lose its
relevance entirely. We’ll see what
happens. What I really loved about this
film is its fantastic energy, it is fast-paced, the characters are smart, the
dialogue is sharp, and David Fincher is definitely on his game. I liked the movie, and I think for anyone
interested, it’s well worth a look.
8.5/10

Comments

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Alfreta Sailor 6 years agofrom Southern California

I've not seen the move, but I've heard the critique since it's inception. From reading your hub, I think I really want to see it now. Very good DRAKE0525. Voted up/ useful/awesome!

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Drake0525 6 years agofrom Massachusetts

@Alma - it was definitely hyped up a lot. Only a handful of movies could've lived up to those sorts of expectations. This is not in that particular class of movies, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Alma Cabase 6 years agofrom Philippines

I think the movie did not met my expectations. Its about the creation of one of the greatest social networking site ever made so I was expecting so much from it.

Robert 6 years ago

I think this is about the right rating. The one nit I have with the film is the ending. I find the "he did it all for love" implications of the last scene a little hard to swallow after the first two hours. But, overall, this is well worth the two hours.